


This Caprice Spindle

by theMiragePrismatic



Series: Calamatology: Once More With Clarity [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chapter Specific Tags in chapter notes or summary, Details in Table of Contents, Gen, Multiple Warriors of Light, One Shot Collection, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 00:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21045368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theMiragePrismatic/pseuds/theMiragePrismatic
Summary: Written for FFXIVWrites2019 in September just now being posted properly, a collection of pieces as I write-think my way to characters and plot. Pieces revolve around the Lominsan-Doman woman, Suzune Akigawa in both canon-esque world and canon divergent thinking pieces. (this post was originally just Prompt 12)





	1. 00 - Table of Ficlet Contents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a prompt list and directory for the ficlets. Here I will write the Prompt Number, the Title of a Piece and a who's who. This is no way a coherent story but a thinking collection for two different 'verses
> 
> This ficlets may reappear in the same or expanded form in other collections in this series but I wanted to collect all my FFXIVWrite2019 fics in one place, largely unaltered save for some grammar edits. This was also written months ago as 'within 24 hours/an hour' think pieces so the Ao3 versions MAY occasionally have divergent or expanded details

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FEATURES SHADOWBRINGERS SPOILERS
> 
> Tessellation (the 'verse I live in/attempting to longfic): an Alt. Reality with sameish plot but altered worldbuilding but what's important: Ardbert and friends were the Warriors of Light (aka Twelvesblades or Luminaries in my works), who vanished at Carteneau. and also, Aymeric left Ishgard before the Calamity for family reasons. 
> 
> Calamatology (the 'verse I dabble in to vent): canon compliant, sticks with the established worldbuilding, may diverge story wise. may have two branches. incluin There is a small band of Warriors of Light; the Legacy Warriors are possibly dead but their identities are known.

**Table of Contents**

(Minor Characters are not listed)

**Prompt 12 (Fingers Crossed) - Titled: Self Sovereignty**

Features NPC, Alphinaud Leveilleur and OCs, the main one being Suzune. | Takes place in canon but diverges | Tags #Alphinaud Gets Dragged

**Prompt 01 (Voracious) - Untitled**

Features NPCs Aymeric de Borel and Ardbert, OC Suzune | Alternate Universe Tessellation Concept

**Prompt 22 (Free Write) - Titled: A Place to Rest (Shadowbringers Spoilers)**

Features NPC Ardbert and OC Suzune | Tags: Dreamsharing, Hurt/Comfort

**Prompt 02 (Bargain) - Titled: The Ones We Remember (Pre-ARR)**

(Pre-ARR), Features NPC Minfilia, OCs, Grimundr Stormwrath, Kreszenta Shatterstrike | Tags: Tessellation AU

**Prompt 03 (Lost) - Title: Safely Moored (Tessellation AU)**

Features NPC Ardbert, OC Suzune |

**Prompt 06 (First Steps) - Titled: Her First Carbuncle** (Tessellation AU)

Features NPC Ardbert, OC Suzune | Tags: Carbuncle Shenanigans

**Prompt 07 (Forgive) - Titled: Burdens Shared (Shadowbringers Spoilers)**

Features: NPC Ardbert, OC Suzune

**the Inspo for Prompt 07 - Titled: the Here and Now (Shb Spoilers)**

Features: NPC Ardbert, OC Suzune | Not an FFXIV Write entry but relevant, Experimental (Ethereal?) Writing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to the chaotic nature of my brain chapters are out of order. When everything is posted, I'll put it in the proper place. This list will be updated with each new chapter. Also since I have waited a whole damn year to finish posting these details about at a couple one character have changed but I guess that doesn't matter for this collection.


	2. Prompt 12 (Fingers Crossed) - Self Sovereignty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patch 2.3 Defenders of Eorzea - Suzune has been Eorzean since she was a babe and takes exception to an unbloodied graduate from a neutral nation interfering in the delicate and volatile politics of a post-war Eorzea.
> 
> Main Cast: Suzune Murakumo, Alphinaud Leveilleur
> 
> Tags: Alphinaud gets dragged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt - Fingers Crossed - to wish for good luck or (when crossed behind the back) to invalidate a promise

_An Ul’dahn Apartment_

Suzune stormed into Grimundr's rooms without taking notice of his state of undress - or the fact the Highlander man quickly stepped behind the curtain again - and proceeded to sweep off the table an entire stack of things explicitly there for the purpose of Grimundr needing to throw things. The noise was immense.

"You could at least knock," he said mildly, securing a pair of pants but she wasn't looking at him but seemed intent on wacking his punching bags. "Or... you can... work off your anger."

"Ade! Is - " Azusa peeked around the doorway. "Ah." She stepped further inside, closing the door. The Raen was Suzune's 'relation' of a kind - as far as Grimundr knew their clans were friends and allies.

"Not that I don't find this amusing," Grimundr said, joining the Au Ra by the door. Suzune had moved onto smacking Grimundr's training dummy to smithreens; the fact it restored to pre-smashed stage did not seem to be helping.

"But uh..." he continued. "she's usually less... "

"Like you?"

"Less explosive." he settled on. "More directed anger. More vindictive."

"Oh!" Azusa clapped her hands. "She doesn't have an immediate target and she quit the Scions."

"Finally! Wait, why?"

"Well, they moved from the Waking Sands to the Rising Stones so the Syndicate wouldn't take advantage - so they could be neutral right? But that ... uh, I forgot his name - one of them, the short white-haired one - "

"The scrag."

"Doesn't he have a name?"

"Yes."

"...You don't know it."

"I do. I don't bother remembering it."

The Raen sighed. "Of course. Anyway, Suzune had an argument with Minfilia - "

"With Lia? ... I can see why. She's lost some of that iron spine of hers..."

Azusa did not know Minfilia very well at all. She frowned at him. 

“Sorry - go on.”

"Thank you. the Scions move to maintain their neutrality but then the kid proceeds to muck about here during the riots - " She talked over Grimundr's growl. "And now he has this proposal l to make a provisional extrajudicial Grand Company - "

"Waitwaitwait - under the Scions?"

"Yes."

"But that defeats the whole damn point. Of them. Being _neutral._"

She nodded. "Mhmm. It's suppose to be a trial run for... the Eorzean Alliance does want to make a joint operation but they've been arguing logistics. Suzune said they should just make a joint task force pulling from the Grand Companies and ... I really don't remember his name."

"Don't look at me."

"Alfie." Suzune snapped. "The little sanctimonious brat."

Azusa frowned. "I'm very sure that's wrong."

"I don't care. He hates it. He's an unbloodied foreign brat, freshly graduated from a nation that fucked off and left us years ago and he comes in here like he's the only one with any of the answers." Suzune snarled. "He goes on and on about 'pathetic' we are and how he was going 'leave us to our fate' like we would be all so helpless without his benevolent guidance - !"

"Sounds like Baelsar." Grimundr muttered.

Suzune spun, vigorously pointing at him. "EXACTLY! And then when I first had the misfortune of meeting the brat all I wanted him to do was shut up; talking like I didn't know the history of my own damn realm. And then he goes on about if it wasn't for 'continuing Grandfather's legacy' i would have left! Please LEAVE!"

"Wait, what. Leveilleur." Grimundr's gaze darkened. "Alphinaud Leveilleur. No wonder he's such a brat."

"Hm?"

"He's the one who sent us away."

"Oh! Zellie. I didn't see you there." Azusa stepped aside to make room for the duskwight elezen who dipped her head in greeting..

"Sure, come in, it's a party." Grimundr threw up his hands. "Is Sorkha coming?" You know, I was taking a bath."

"You look decent to me. And Sorkha is ... I don't know where she is." Zelmira confessed, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her. The Duskwight was about Grimundr's height but willowy and graceful wrapped in fine elezen leathers and slim boots. "But," she added. "No one, no one thought the moon was going to explode. The old man was fine."

"Wait, who sent you away?"

"Louisoix Leveillieur, Alphinaud's grandfather." Zelmira explained. "He was the chief strategist for Gridania and convince the city-states to work together. He was also less... sanctimonious." 

"I don't have a problem with the old man," Grimundr said. Zelmira leveled a stare at him. "Fine; I lie. But if the entire realm suddenly forgot the people that saved them, you would be disgruntled too. Me and Lia and a few others were the only ones who remembered!"

She inclined her head, conceding the point. "But his effort was worthwhile."

"I suppose. Still made me angry at the time." Shaking his head, he interrupted Suzune's violent exercising. "Bells,” Grimundr prompted. “you were ranting."

"And then Minfilia and Alphinaud just presume I would be on board with their dumb idea - a new organization. So he explains and explains and explains and then he's like - okay we're going to Limsa to recruit - and I'm like: wait the fuck up, I did not agree to this. So, I go ahead and Merlwyb's like: you know what this is a dumb idea I like yours better. And then he gets there and he's shocked, shocked I tell that a Maelstrom Officer's proposal is held in higher regard than the word of some random scholar - "

"He's not that random."Azusa protested. "Besides, you're okay with the other Scions!"

"They've been here for years."Grimundr said. "Louisoix was here for years; this kid has been here for five minutes and he's stepping on people's toes. How is he going to get money anyway?"

"Syndicate."

"They'll own him - even if he thinks they won't."

"He says the refugee revolt prompted the action - "

"You mean when he told me to stay out of my own people's damn affairs, that revolt!? They meant for the Scions to be neutral and then he promptly goes to mess about in Ul'dah!” He affected Alphinaud’s voice poorly. “The Scions must maintain neutrality” - THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE?! And I AM NOT A SCION! For this exact swiving reason!,” he grumbled. "I should talk to Lia."

"No, you should not." Zelmira said.

"I am not angry at her - just annoyed. Sometimes we all need a little reminder - a remainder to put some steel back in her spine and put that brat in his damn place. She's leader; Louisoix chose her."

"Well, it hardly matters to me,” Suzune said. Apparently, she'd exhausted her need to break things and let her carbuncles come out to cuddle her. "Sorkha volunteered to do the legwork for me."

"Wait. She's Maelstrom?"

"She's doing _paperwork_?"

"Sorkha is good student; she could be an assessor - I mean, she is she just can't use magic very well now." Suzune defended their absent friend.

"Well, great." Grimundr sighed. "Imma put on a shirt. Feel free to keep invading my space and make some food and drink while you're here."

* * *

_Some Days Later - The Lotus Stand, Council Meeting_

"We call it Proposal Cohesion," Chief Serpent Sergeant Ephemie Giphelmont explained. "The Grand Companies continue to operate as normal and select officers from their respective forces to pass back information and the like.

"However," Suzune added. "I propose that each Grand Company tap a small number of their regular forces and tap irregular forces from Free Companies of Allied Standing, since the FCs are accustomed to joint operations."

"The Free Companies?" Alphinaud said. "Are you sure that is wise?"

"What do you suggest?" Suzune said, with false politeness. "That we ignore _an entire branch of our defenses_ that was established exactly for this purpose?"

"We've proven our worth before, Council," Towering Mountain, the Allied Immortal Flames irregular said. "This would just be a more cohesive... uh... this will be more cohesive than what we usually do. We gel together fair enough on the fly but I like this too."

"It does appear we have been making this harder than it needs to be," Raubahn shook his head. 

"Thank you, Chief Sergeants," Kan-E-Senna said nodding to Suzune and Ephemie. "Condottiere Tower. We will confer on both proposals and call upon you all shortly."

Alphinaud and the adventurers politely dismissed themselves from the Stand.

"Where did you get all this paperwork so fast?" Towering Mountain asked outside.

"Sorkha."

"Oh! She’s very... very thorough,”

"Luminary Murakumo?"

She glared at Alphinaud. 

"Ah, Sergeant? May I speak with you a moment?"

"We'll be... somewhere else?" Towering Mountain volunteered, Suzune nodded; Ephemie and him immediately made themselves scarce.

"I do apologize for our earlier disagreement," he said ever polite even in the face of her contemptuous look. "But I wanted to clarify a point - your membership with the Scions...?"

"What's to clarify? I quit."

His face grew grim. "My proposal is acknowledgement that we cannot keep taxing your talents however formidable - "

"Interesting, considering I've not heard a single question asking after my opinion. The Scions will contact the Alliance and inform them of any primal threat, as always."

"Leaving the immediate ranks of the Scions increases the time delay - “

“I don’t see how since I’ll be right there when the Grand Company needs a primal to die. How did you plan to fund your pet project anyway? You said your family's coffers," she sneered. "Can't handle it and I doubt they'd like funding a military endeavor anyway. Syndicate money? Proposal Cohesion will be funded by each GC giving an allotted fund and every Free Company will do the same."

"I am well aware of the dangers of the Syndicate. Of course every coin would be accounted for."

"Or, you could just not take their coin. Look," she cut him off. "I reserved my judgment but you have failed my every test. And you are not Eorzean. I am taking over from here and you will retire from this endeavor and future political dabblings."

His cheeks heated. "Despite my foreign birth, I assure you I do have Eorzea's best interests at heart."

"And the road to hell is paved with good intentions. You're flying blind, you don't know anything about us and I don't trust a Sharlayan sprout to know how to go toe-to-toe with the Monetarists who have been robbing everyone blind for decades. The Scions are neutral, move to solidfy that fact and then you immediately interfere in the Ul'dahns riots and try for this power grab to fulfill your own grandiose hubris."

She talked right over him, having built up steam.

"You are operating from a very narrow view and I am not going to let you screw it up." Suzune hissed. "You're not Eorzean - you haven't even tried to be Eorzean."

"Beg pardon?"

"When you know what I mean, then maybe I will know you are not beyond hope. I take issue with a foreigner with little outside experience suddenly trying to take the reins - you don't even know how to lead an army."

"I am aware of my shortcomings. Of course I would hire a - "

"No - you don’t and I don't care. " Her voice was low and dangerous. "You look at us and you sneer because we squabbled and have differences and that's true but you've no right to come from swiving Sharlayan who well damn _chose_ to leave and then judge us like you are so much better than us. The Archons have been for years, you've been here five minutes."

You spout rhetoric like Baelsar, like we need your oh so benevolent guidance because we're just unintelligent barbarians. Well, while you were safe in your ivory tower, we had a godsforsaken moon with a cataclysmically enraged dragon in it explode mere malms from the ground. You weren't here and you don't respect or regard the people who were."

She didn't move an inch but her gaze was cold, she held herself like she towered over him even more than she already did and she was every inch the officer.

"If you try to interfere so blatantly in Eorzean politics again, by the Twelve, I will knock you out and ship you back to your precious island myself. Is that clear?”

“i - “

"Have I not made myself perfectly understood?”

“I understand. But - “

“Alphinaud.” her voice was dangerous. “My patience may be great but it’s coming to an end. Don’t test me.”

Then she stepped back, a polite mask settling across her face as she adjusted her red company tabard. “Good talk. Remember it _vividly.”_

The council accepted her proposal unanimously. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcanons - Condottiere is the term for all leaders of Free Companies (in my mind)
> 
> I was thinking of the Crystal Braves salute - one arm behind the back, like they were hiding something (since it doesn’t come up in the fic itself)
> 
> I was really annoyed that no one except Roaille and sort of Merlwyb spoke an objection to Alphinaud just coming in and being like he’s to be the benevolent savior like he’s not a fresh graduate from a nation that effectively isolates itself. Like, how does he expect to know anything from that environment. And he was talking over the locals. Like, that’s never polite or a good thing.
> 
> Edits - I changed the names to line up with other stories down the line but they are the same characters.


	3. Prompt 01 (Voracious) - Untitled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU -Tessellation'verse
> 
> The idea here was that Aymeric aided a friend of theirs, (Lia) in Coerthas and was at the time accompanied by his cousin, Laurisse de Jervaint (from the BSM quests, yes I headcanoned their being relatives, so?) I guess Lia teleported and that's why they're suddenly in Limsa.

Aymeric remember losing consciousness; in the chill to his young cousin Laurisse’s worried words, to the diviner’s healing magic, to the sinking feeling of failure.

He woke to warmth, downy blankets and sunlight. And immediately ruined it by sitting up too fast.

“Don’t do that.” the man at his bedside ordered. “You’ll fall over.”

Indeed Aymeric found himself slumped back into the bed confused. “This - ” he croaked. The man offered a cup of water which Aymeric drank gratefully. “Ishgard. Not.” Nor was this Coerthas.

“Nope. This is Limsa.”

Limsa Lominsa?

“He’s awake!” the wooden door swung open, admitting a whirlwind of a woman, carrying a tray. “How long?”

Aymeric stared at her; she had long purple hair tinged with red and was short - a Hyur, he realized belatedly, her skin a pleasant medium, darkish tone, her gown swirling around her.

“Ten seconds!” the man - also Hyur - said. He was brunet, his complexion paler than the woman’s, attired in a comfortable, open shirt and brais.

“Oh good, I have great timing.”

“Come back in ten minutes. He can barely think - ”

“Here, Emmy, ” the whirlwind woman said, ignoring the man and approaching with a tray; a small table zoomed across the room, ramming into the bed with a bang; Aymeric jumped.

The hyuran man sighed. “Bells…Control your magicked furniture. Please.”

“No need to rush.” she scolded… the table which trembled … in embarrassment before, settling down. She set down the tray. "Laurisse made this for you but she’s outdoors! She’s gonna fit in great, but you are in so much trouble. Eat this, it’s your favorite.“

"And how would you know that?” the man demanded.

“I have a better memory than you.” she said smugly.

“Merci,” Aymeric said dumbly choosing to focus on the particulars - rescued, Laurisse safe, kind people, food, bed. Good.

“Eat as much as you like!” the whirlwind woman - Bells - said. “You’re a real knight you know; everyone’s fine - except you.”

“Bells! He just woke up, I promise he understand nothing.”

“Oh.” She came up short, squinting. “Weird.”

“No, it’s not.” the man said with the tone of one who had to explain how other people work before.

She pouted. “Oh darn. Well, I’ll come back later.” She patted Aymeric’s cheek with an air of what he was sure was unwarranted familiarity. “Eat up! You’re probably hungry! I would be! Ard, take care of him!”

She skipped out, waving, the door swinging slowly shut behind her.

With the whirlwind of a woman gone, Aymeric took the time to survey the room - two windows to his right, shuttered closed but slants of light spilled forth onto a long dresser with a clothing rack atop it and a bench beside it. To the left was a short corridor with a table, ending in a curtain.

Aymeric looked at the man, Ard. He must’ve looked harried because his new ally laughed. “She’s the wind.” he said fondly. “But don’t worry about her right now; just eat.”

“Where’s Laurisse? The lady? She - she was blonde, a Hyur - ?”

“This is La Noscea; Laurisse is fine and so is Lia - the woman you assisted. You teleported hee. Rest up.”

The man was a calming presence and in no time Aymeric had eaten everything on the tray even though he had little inkling what any of it was; to his stomach it all tasted good though he was careful to eat slowly to not make himself sick.

“Still hungry?”

Aymeric almost jumped out of his skin; the man had gone so quiet.

“Yes. I feel better though. Thank you.”

"Good. Coerthas is colder these days than the Hell of Ice, I hear - even though it isn’t winter?”

“It is not winter.” Aymeric confirmed. “Officially.”

“Halone must be mad at you lot,” the Hyur mused. “I’m Ardbert by the way - the whirlwind was Suzune - I don’t suppose you’d remember that?”

He furrowed his brows, fishing through his memory. “Should I?”

“He doesn’t!?” She was back, with a pitcher of … something.

“He has no frame of reference!” Ardbert declared, stepping in front of the bed as if to shield Aymeric. “We wrote letters to you, when we were kids. We’re - ”

“You’re Lominsan.” he had no idea why this was an important detail but - letters, ‘Emmy’… purple hair…“This is Lominsa yes? Do you know my mother?”

"Yes!” she cheer-motioned but frowned at Ardbert. “You told him!”

Ah, yes - he remembered now - his mother, though unable to be there as mother usually were for reasons he was now beginning to understand - had a successful business in Limsa and he remembered vividly the letters and small trinkets she had brought with her from children she knew in Limsa Lominsa.

“When one wakes up in someone else’s home far from their starting point they typically like to know the names of their hosts.” he said. “And: don’t trick your guests. We’re not five! Besides, I still haven’t forgiven you for that.”

“Don’t be silly; you were the best of them! And my most favorite.”

“I thought we were friends now.”

She looked at him like he was an idiot. “You’re my favorite and my best friend! Obviously. You can’t be one without the other.”

Ardbert looked about to refute her but rolled his eyes fondly. “Of course.”

"Here, Emmy.” she said, again with (possibly actually warranted) familiarity, handing him a pitcher.

Ardbert looked at her suspiciously. “No tricks.” 

“It’s tea! With his birch syrup even!” She poured a tall mug of steaming tea while Aymeric watched them both banter. “I’ll just have to get you later.” she added.

Aymeric shot a look at Ardbert, who shrugged. “Eh…It’s not that bad.”

“Don’t warn 'im, Ard - you don’t wanna make it worse.”

“Now, I know you’re bluffing.”

“Don’t make me loose my claws, Ard, I will push you into the ocean.”

“Sharpen them on your enemies; there’s plenty.”

“Hm… you make an excellent point! Take your time, Emmy - you can use the bath - it’s back there.“ She indicated the blue curtain.

"I brought some Elezen-sized clothes.” Ardbert added.

“How is Laurisse?” he blurted, his mind struggling through molasses. Suzune appeared to have been appeased - she reminded him rather much of .the old fairy tales of old tricksy hermits found in mountains but the way she swayed in place and talked with a note of undaunted cheer, endeared her somehow.

“She’s great! She’s with the other kids.”

“What other kids?” Ardbert asked. “Like your clanskin other kids or - ”

“No, the local kids. What does that mean, Ard?”

“You lot are gremlins to the uninitiated and I will tell everyone so for their own well-being.”

“Spoilsport. Laurisse is fine - having lots of fun.”

“I hope that actually means she’s having fun.” Ardbert muttered as Suzune whirled out again.

“Come check if you doubt me, you cretin!” she bellowed. 

“I do not think I actually know her.” Aymeric said. It had been so long since he had written his pen pals, after all.

“Well, no. She’s also disgruntled that you stopped writing even though she knows it’s not entirely your fault. Yer ma is worried you know. And then we find you like this - Well, you found Lia and she - ” he stopped. “I’m rambling.”

“I am glad to have found… friends then.”

“Don’t sound so uncertain; Suzie will take it an excuse.”

Aymeric took refuge in the breakfast tray; if nothing else Suzune did appear to be a good cook - or Laurisse was. “Pardon me, it does not seem like you are actually friends?”

“I didn’t think so,” Ardbert laughed. “for the longest time either but she said we are after dodging around it like a socially inept jellyfish for years and she saved my life so I am inclined to believe her.”

"Saving one’s life is not always a solid basis of friendship.“

"It is when she was basically my aetheryte.”

“Beg pardon?”

Ardbert shrugged, tilting his head back. “After the Battle of Carteneau…” he said slowly. “I … was lost for a time and tried teleporting home. But… the aetheryte I was aiming for had been destroyed. So my only recourse was to be lost in the Lifestream or grab to the next brightest beacon - which happened to be Suzune.”

Aymeric stared at him openly. “You… teleported. To a person?”

“Aye. Her aether is as familiar to me as my own - we grew up on the same island and I would call us childhood friends even though we spent most of that time squabbling.” he chuckle. “Don’t worry - she’s just… very energetic right now and is more hospitable when she’s less of a whirlwind and more of a person. Trust me; she’s a lot more personable than when we were young. Did you not like our letters?”

“I did. I - ”

“You don’t need to defend yourself,” Ardbert said, making to leave. “And I know letters don’t quite substitute for … really knowing someone. But we’re glad to meet you in person, all the same - even though the circumstances aren’t the best. Just eat up, take a shower - you can take a soak too, don’t be shy. You get to skip the initiation part.”

"Wait. You said _I _teleported here but I have never been to Limsa."

"Well, you were injured defending Lia. So, she teleported you. Don't worry - it may have made you queasy but it's... you were aetherically tethered to her. You and Laurisse. She's good at the kind of thing."

"Ah." said Aymeric though he did not fully understand. Side-along teleportation was common enough between parent and child but he had no knowledge of the finer points.

"I'll leave you to it."

Though Ardbert’s buffering presence had been welcomed, Aymeric liked the space for his own thoughts even more, slowly going through the events of the last few … days? in his own mind.

He felt much refreshed and less confused after a shower and soak. Suzune had a luxuriously large spa for a such a small home and helpfully posted instructions - that seemed to be poorly-veiled threats to take full advantage of her hospitality or she would be very insulted. Shower first to wash then bathe to relax. The aforementioned Elezen sized clothes were already waiting and he padded out of her en suite to a full home library/lounge, interspaced with oddly tall mannequins armored in Maelstrom attire.

Following the sound of conversation and chopping led him up the stairs to an open space of brick walls and good cooking.

“I hope you’re still hungry.” Suzune said from a small kitchen where she was chopping so rapidly he feared she would lose her own fingers.

“Ah… i’m quite fine thank you.”

“Great,” Ardbert said, stirring a pot threatening to over boil. “Your spa is magical; of course he’s fine, Suzie.”

“Laurisse is outside; I think she delirious on warm weather.” Suzune said without looking. “I think all that Ishgardian guck is too heavy for your stomach right not but I made grits!” And she promptly put a bowl on the counter indicating he was to eat it. His stomach did growl and did smell nice - and birch syrup had made a second appearance,

“Don’t be rude.” Ardbert chided her.

“_I’m_ not the one who almost died recently!”

“Are you still holding that against me”

“I’m not holding it against you,” she said, clearly holding some sort of grudge over it. “I’m just saying that I was not recently dragged from the brink of death.”

“I’m fine now.” Ardbert said, tone gentle. “You know that.”

“I know you are.” she said, letting fondness enter her voice. “But the fact remains.”

Despite his initial misgivings of her, Aymeric finds himself relaxing at their banter; Ardbert speaks with a warm fondness and Suzune seemed to be determined to stuff him full of food. With her attention half on the cooking, her whirlwind tendencies have calmed as well

“Suzune,” he interrupts. “I am told we were friends, once. Through letters? I do apologize for the … end to those. I quite enjoyed them.”

“Right?! I was so sad when you stopped but then again everything was on fire and then everything was frozen and then you find our friends in the mountains - or did they find you - or did you just happen across each other - and shenanigans ensue and by the will of the Spinner and Navigator you’re here and things are great again! Eat this.” She dropped a fish-shaped pastry in front of him. “It’s apple-filled, you’re my first victim.”

“Taste-tester.” Ardbert said, taking half and evading a knife point. “Suzie, why are you trying to stab me?” he asked, unfazed by this show of violence.

“That’s not yours!”

“I’m his back-up.” Ardbert said determinedly and ate part of his claimed half. “It’s fine. Better than fine.”

“I appreciate your generous cooking,” Aymeric said, hastily, taking the other half. “But I surely cannot eat it all by myself.”

“Besides, we made enough to feed a crew,” Ardbert said.

“Well, of course! It’s not all for him!”

“Oh. That’s…. that’s good.”

"We always cook for a crew because that’s … what we always do,” Ardbert explained lamely.

“Did you not live with your extended family?” Aymeric remembered.

“My clan, yes.”

And yet the cottage was only arranged with one person in mind; there was one bed, albiet a large one, very little space for two people never mind three and - the mannequins.

“Are you in the military?”

“That’s right! Come, are you feeling better?” she was attempting to pack up food now. “Come, help me feed the voracious masses!”

“Suzune.” Ardbert interrupted. “You’re being a hurricane.”

“Oh.” She deflated almost at once, despite his firm and comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’ll… I’ll be a minute.”

“Suzune - “

And she was already out the door. 

“She’s fine - the last few… it’s been a time.” Ardbert assured him. “Take your time.”

Aymeric leaned back in the chair and sighed as Ardbert went after her. “A whirlwind indeed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't consider this canon anymore but it was a nice little story. I also tried to rewrite this for too long and gave up and here. This is pretty much the same as tumblr except added little headcanons on teleportation.
> 
> Headcanons: Aymeric's birth mother Amaranthe de Borel is a successful business woman in Limsa. She had to flee attempted murder at the hands of church assassins. Aymeric is a Borel by maternal birth. He was raised by his uncle and aunt. HIs aunt is a Jervaint. (despite the non-canon nature of this fic this headcanon still applies.)


	4. Prompt 22 (Free Write) - A Place to Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shadowbringers Spoilers
> 
> 'Prompt 22' - Free Write - Ardbert can't help the fact his life revolves around one person. It's unenviable result of his being dead.
> 
> Tags - Content - Touch-starved, not knowing or caring about personal space, cuddling - Ardbert, Suzune

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i just i'll put these in prompt order when they're all posted. \\_O_/
> 
> I wrote this for the catch up days at the end of the challenge and set myself 24 hour deadline for it. I decided to write something for Voeburt because I got feels while in the Deepwood Swim. And then it became something else. |

The wind whispered through the pine trees, down the winding stairs - through the cobblestone streets of the Deepwood Valley.

Ardbert froze in the middle of the street, eyes darting around. The bright sun in a cloudless sky, Voeburtites in their customary garb, going about their errands, Grunes Licht high above the valley, the steps leading to the castle - Old Earra - having several amaro-mounted knights soaring over

“What - ?”

“Ardddd! There you are!” Suzune jumped onto his back, nearly bowling him over; they were the same height - ! He cursed almost tripping over her long, ruffled skirt.

“Suzune! What are you trying to do; knock me down?!” He grabbed her legs, trying to bounce her up on his back before they both fell face first in the street.

“Hm… maybeeee ~” She leaned over his shoulder, the side bangs of her purple hair brushing his face, her eyes like clearest, palest water and she smelled like saltwater and caramel. “But never mind that,” she said, clapping his shoulders from her position on his back and nearly tipping him over again before he got a grip on her legs, the cloth slipping past his grip. “Look at this! Let’s go look around!”

She shouldn’t be here. _He _shouldn’t be here - Voeburt was gone - The Light…

“Ard! Go, go, you’re my amaro!”

“Get off, you’ll - “ not hurt herself because he didn’t have his armor either. He could _feel_ every inch of her and -

“Augh!” Suzune rubbed her bottom where he _threw her_ on the ground. “What was that for?!”

The people continued on their business, paying no mind to his panic attack. Not even _the knights_ which was absurd; commotions like this would get townsfolk immediately - 

“Ard!” she poked his cheek as if he were a bomb, crouching where he was curled up on the ground. “Oh…”

“You shouldn’t be here! _I shouldn’t be here! Voeburt is gone! Sauldia is gone! I - !”_

_“_This is an Echo.” she said, voice echoing and far away. “We’re asleep.”

He blinked. The sky was cloudless. He could barely feel the cobblestones - 

“What - “

“Here have this.” she passed him a cup, the sheets underneath him cooler than the ground -

He sat up, startled by the bed _and the indoors_ -

The wooden walls, light pouring through open windows, flanked by shutters. It was cool too. He could smell incense.

“This isn’t Voeburt.”

“Nope. This is my cottage.” Suzune said from the bedside, standing. She was in a big frumpy sweater with poofy pants and socks, the dress gone.

His own Voeburtite tunic was gone replaced by a humble dalmatica“… We’re dreaming?”

“Yes. Almost woke me up.” she pouted, eyes big and despite her decidedly not adorable features - she was all cool undertones and sharp angles - he found hs heart softening to her and his confusion easing.

"What... what is going on?"

“You were in my dream first! And then you had the nerve to _be startled_.”

“I - “ He hadn’t dreamt in a century. He… He was in her dreams?

“Drink that.” she ordered.

He did, tasting sea salt and burn and whiskey - The clink of a glass, the softness of sheets… the _weight_, the texture. He was _dreaming_? How? This was more vivid that any dream he could - but could dreams really be remembered.

She rambled on - about her cottage, about Limsa outside and wanting to explore Voeburt -

He dragged her close, burying his nose in her hair.

“Oh-hoh. _now _you want me close,” she huffed but did not resist, raking her nails through his short hair and he shivered at the light bite on his scalp.

“You startled me before,” he murmured. Some part of him remembered social convention and propriety and he lurched back but she just followed him, snuggling.

He took the permission for what it was, pulling her down and wrapping his arms around her greedily, reveling in her touch, her scent. The bed was big enough for two but only had one pillow, a sign Suzune usually just took it up all by herself but he drew her so close the extra space was wasted

He clung to her like she was the only thing in the world - and to him she _was_. She was the center of his entire existence and - being a disembodied soul now apparently haunting her dreams completely unaware at first - this was just a fact.

“I’m your plush animal now?” she laughed. Her painted blue lips curved into a smile, the blue paint around her eyes crinkling. He traced the looping curves on her cheeks; he rarely saw her without those the mornings languid as she sat at the desk, talking to him about everything and nothing.

“You can leave.” he said but he didn't make any move to release her.

“Nope.” She curled against him like a cat. 

It seemed contradictory to spend a dream just… doing what people normally did a night but -

“Stop thinking,” she hissed.

“But isn’t this boring for you?”

“I’ll just be extra rested tomorrow.” she said and fidgeted again, turning so he spooned against her back. He wrapped his arms around her, pressing his chin into her shoulder. She sighs, a relax sound and stills, her breathing a calming lullaby, the sheets cool and soothing, her heartbeat steady and soothing.

And for the first time in too many years, he didn’t feel adrift - but completely settled in this moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i should write a separate Ardbert collection...
> 
> I wanted to write cute things in Voeburt; instead I got this. i also wanted to write about interacting in dreams and it finally got out of my brain though not the way i imagined


	5. Prompt 02 (Bargain) - the Ones We Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The troops come back from Carteneau. Except the ones who don't. So, she'll just have to bring them back herself
> 
> Bargain (verb) - 1) negotiate the terms and conditions of a transaction | 2) a stage of grief: I promise to do everything I can to make this world better for the rest of my life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted on my tumblr September 03, 2019 (apparently I had this saved to post and then... didn't post it...)
> 
> Adelgrim is one of my main characters but he has a bad habit of changing his name. He'll be 'Adelgrim' throughout this collection or 'Grim'. | Kreszenta is a dark skinned highlander

Adelgrim felt as if the moon had fallen on his shoulder and he could taste ash in his mouth

The Immortal Flames, one of Eorzea's three Grand Companies, marched from Ul'dah to battle at the Carteneau Flats. They marched through the Gate of Thal - to pray to the god, to stave off death, to brace themselves. They marched through the Gate of Thal to raucous well-wishes, to stave off death, to bring luck and glory and triumph.

They stumbled back through the Gates of Nald, pass the remnants of the Great Goobbue Wall to a city littered with corpses of voidsent, to a burning sky flushed red and order just barely returning to the streets.

There was too much to do.

Order breaking down as citizens scrambled for the solders, crying out the names of loved ones. 

But that is not Minfilia's concern - they have run out of supplies and gathering what they have after the brief stint of looting has taken up all of her attention. People need blankets, food

Each leader was in charge of determining the dead of their own unit; it became more complicated when entire squads were lost but that was not Adelgrim’s problem. He couldn’t focus on anything but that right now.

Nothing but dismissing his people, ensuring they were back with who they could find - nothing but finding a commanding officer, giving his report. The weight of a dead's comrades weapons on his back.

He trudged through the panicked but quieted streets, to old rooms.

When Adelgrim put Bravura down, J'rohyasta’s wounded gasp cut off as the former Path Companion crumpled into a heap. Her cries were choked, and muffled, her attempts to mute them futile. Her own numbness batted aside, Minfilia wound her arms tight around the Miqo'te, muffling the cries ‘Gods, I’m sorry, I should have been there, I failed, I failed - “ with a wordless lullaby.

Kan-E-Senna had found Bravura the same way she had found Tupisamati - on the battlefield, sans its owner. 

Minfilia comforted the Pathwalkers who stumbled in, confused and lost and comfort those who were grieving.

Minfilia was their Antecedent and she would not cry. Not yet. Even though the Path of the Twelve were hunted by the fanatical Lambs of Dalamud, she would not cry - they had scattered to the Grand Companies, to fight, to use their gift to break down walls between Eorzeans, to forge bonds, to slay primals.

And now. There weren’t enough Pathwalkers to take care of.

"They’re all dead?” She tries to speak flatly but her voice cracks.

There is too much. The skies burn red and the despair is so great, the few - very few - remaining Echohearers are besieged by the feelings and memories of others. They huddle in the empty halls of the Waking Sands to escape it.

Adelgrim hears the crack though and looks at her, tired. “No.” he says and gestures to her to follow.

He takes her to the Hidden Pearl - a popular underground Ala Mhigan tavern in the Pearl Rows; its been made fairly comfortable infirmary and the sound of music and songs eases her at once.

He takes her to the back rooms, where beds are laid out and a woman squints up at them. “Lia?” she croaks.

“Kresza!” She almost trips over herself, getting her arms around the other Highlander and Kreszenta wraps her in a tight hug, comforting. "Nymeia, thank you for your mercy.“ she murmurs into her shoulder

"She… teleported to me.” Adelgrim's voice is almost too quiet.

“What?”

The man's throat worked; Minfilia dimly noted she should get the man some water “Louisoix… I think he cast this spell. That was meant to send them to safety but…”

“The aetherytes failed.”  
  
Voidsent had pushed through the aetherytes as the moon grew closer - while the army was away.

It was not unheard of it. Some folks had respond to the crisis by searching out familiar aether - normally that of a close friend or relation. In the provisioner cells, knowing who could do so had been vital over the last few days. And if Kreszenta could teleport to Adelgrim -   
  
“Do you have a marriage ring?”  
  
“No.” Adelgrim said. “Why - 

"That means I can do the same.”

“I … I am not following.” Kreszenta admitted.

“That’s fine.” Minfilia wasn’t quite following herself but if they had merely been sent away, if they were not dead…

"They are my people.” Minfilia resolved. “If there’s a chance to save them, a chance that Louisoix’s spell afforded them a way home, I mean to bring them home.”  
  
It would be difficult - besides the fact Eorzea had become a stranger over night, the roads of Aldenard unfamiliar and harrowing, she had never used her magicks for anything more than settling her visions.

But the Empire had taken too much - her dearest ones had given their lives to stop them and now they had scarred her realm to its very aether.  
  
“If you’re going to do this, you’re going out there prepared.” Adelgrim had said - and put _an Astrolabe_ scepter in her hands. “I got it from your teacher. Don’t argue with me.”

An Astrolabe normally attuned for thaumaturge to pull on the movements of heavens for destructive force. But this... seemed more peaceful  
  
She closed her mouth against her protests and tugged on the sturdy travel wear. “Fine. Just one thing.”  
  
“It better not be unreasonable.”  
  
“When you’re not calling me Lia - my name is Ascilia.”

“… That’s reasonable. Feeling confident?”

“No. But I mean to be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's almost time for FFXIVWrite 2020 so time to dinish putting up 2019 fills dfghjk. They'll be mostly unaltered


	6. Prompt 03 (Lost) - Safely Moored

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 3/Day 3 - Lost - disorientated, disoriented, having lost one’s bearings, adrift, going round in circles, at sea | denoting something that has been taken away or cannot be recovered | unremembered, confused
> 
> (i did the opposite of that. whoops)
> 
> Characters - OC: Suzune, Ardbert
> 
> Tessellation AU - Ardbert was one of those legacy Warriors of Light; now he’s back and everything is confusing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on my tumblr on September 4th, 2019

He _was happy._ Really. Very grateful.

Ardbert was banned from teleporting, after his miraculous reappearance and retrieval from Althyk’s stone in Amdapor Keep in all of places and then deliriously attempting to teleport to an aetheryte that did not exist. 

He wanted to go _home, _right now immediately - not wait for a ferry to the Cieldalaes.

Which was why Suzune had swirled into his sick room at the Foremast’s Military Infirmary against the wishes of the Maelstrom medic and declaring that she needed him most direly, were they _really _going to against the word of a Gate Assessor?

“You’re not actually going to make me work are you?” Ardbert wondered as they jogged down the back stairs of the Foremast, eyeing her carbuncles. 

She had been studying arcanima, last he saw her. Though, he also vividly recalled the arcanist in question decrying her family’s magick and calling them… unpleasant things that every mariner in the Cieldalaes knew damn well not to say to their faces. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been there to see how it unfolded and only had his family’s dramatic letter to go by. He would have to dig them up..

“No! … Sort of.” They waited for a lift to empty, some Yellowjackets eyeing them curiously. Suzune bared her teeth at them; they hastily averted their eyes, jogging off.

They boarded the now empty lift - which was suppose to have an operator but Suzune smoothly worked the mechanism herself.

“Suzune.” Her carbuncle was now leaning off her arcanist’s shoulder to investigate his face; Ardbert leaned back; the rainbow-shimmer carbuncle took this as a challenge and leaped. “Auyrhgh.”

Suzune burst out laughing at his dilemma, caught between avoiding the creature and catching it. They ended up in heap on the lift floor. The remaining carbuncle, an emerald one name Vayu churred in amusement from Suzune’s head.

“It’s as devilish as you are.” he grumbled, trying to get up from a tangle of tails and carbuncle. The opal carbuncle promptly sat down and … there went his feet again.

Suzune was laughing so hard, she wasn’t making sound, double over from the force; Vayu tumbled off her head and shook herself off, turning to paw Suzune’s face and shot Ardbert a glare.

“Nasreen is a girl.” Suzune said when she finally recovered. “And so is Vayu.”

Ardbert knew better than to argue. “Duly noted.” and then to the opal carbuncle. “You can ride on my shoulders but only if you let me up.”

Sufficiently appeased, Nasreen trotted off primly and waited from him to get up. And then stared up at him. He sighed and dully bent down to pick her up. “Diva.” he muttered as Nasreen found a good position and curled around his shoulders. Unwillingly, his lips quirked in a smile and he found himself, scratching under the carbuncles’ chin. She purred.

The lift reached the bottom floor and Suzune swept out.

The Foremast - the large structure on the edge of Galadion Bay - wasn’t attached to Limsa by bridge but loomed large on the north edge all the same, a shadow over Coral Tower.

He was glad to be out of the military infirmary.

Limsa was home to many smaller decks and ferries aside from the bigger shipping docks by Hawker’s Piers and the Evermoored Docks where retired boats and small ships lived out their days as floating buildings. Suzune led the way down the 

“I vividly remember being chased out of these,” Ardbert said. They hadn’t grown up in Limsa Lominsa proper - very few, if any children did, being raised at sea or in outlying villages but they had come visited in their later childhood.

“Yes, well now I’m an upstanding assessor so I’m allowed.”

“ ‘Upstanding’. You can’t even write an array without blowing it up.”

“It’s been more than five years.”

“And can you write a mathematical arcanima array without it taking out half the docks?”

Suzune frowned at him. “It’s called magikometry! And you can’t.”

“I didn’t decide to fight an arcanist over ‘proper arcanima practices’. … What happened to him?”

“Who?” she asked, innocently.

Bad things. Ardbert decided and dropped it.

“I don’t need to anyway,” she said smugly and Nasreen and Vayu chirped, their chimes likes bells.

“Now,” she said getting down to business. “The Trident approaches -”

“We’re having a _Trident_.”

“Yes. Now - “

“Well, I suppose with the Garleans gone -”

“Who said that?”

“… What.”

“They’re still here.” she said. “Which is why is it imperative that Merlwyb win - “

“Then why does she need to hold one?! She’s the _Admiral_.”

“To keep the peace,” Suzune said as if explaining to a child. “We’ve already canceled it … twice? A Third time and the Trueblood Reformists - “

“The who now? Suzie, I was lost in the Lifestream for five years!”

“The Bloody Executioners are in two factions - Hyllfyr retired. Moenskaet and his crew holds _the Astalicia _and Aisbraena is a lunatic.” she said. “Now focus! We’re checking the hidden docks and cellars; look intimidating.”

Ardbert gestured expansively himself; dressed a common man and not at all like a solider.

“You don’t need your armor. … You don’t have Bravura.”

“No; no one’s _given it back to me.”_

Suzune considered this. :Let’s go get your stuff from the Calamity Salvager.”

“… The who now.”

“Don’t worry; I’ll be your compass.” she said and did a dramatic turn then paused. “Wait…”

“Who’s lost now?”

“To the city proper!” she declared, turning again back to the Foremast pier. “Let’s get a ferry.”


	7. Prompt 06 (First Steps)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Tesellation AU - Takes place pre-calamity, actually. Instead of writing about infants I wrote about Suzune and her first carbuncle because apparently, she has those. (Arcanist was Suzune’s first discipline and I am honor-bound to keep that in her backstory)
> 
> Characters: Ardbert, Suzune, Nasreen the Opal Carbuncle (unnamed)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on my tumblr September 07, 2019. Minor edits made
> 
> Prompt 6/Entry 6 - First Steps - usually refers to an infant’s first attempts at walking.
> 
> (I am bad at updating daily. or in order)

  
Prompt 06 - Her First Carbuncle

“Suzune, I need to go.”

Ardbert’s old friend had ambushed him as he returned from fishing with his brother and dragged him off without letting him change out of his fishing clothes either.

“No, hold that!” Suzune shoved Ardbert at the box on a tripod, manipulating his limbs and paused. “Do you need to go to the Garrison?”

He sighed. “No.” He admitted.

“Does yer ma need you?”

“No. Nothing urgent.” 

Suzune looked at him wide eyes though it faltered, threatening to break into a genuine smile at her own ridiculousness. “Alright, Suzie,” he said giving into her pout. “What do you need?”

“Zah! You can help me! No, stand like this.” she put the strange scoop thing full of powder in one hand and put his other hand over a button.

“What am I doing with this?” ‘I was helping Suzune’ did usually serve as an explanation as to why he was late for one thing or another, amongst the locals anyway.

“Get under that.”

“This cloth thing - ow, don’t poke my eye out!”

“This is a camera obscura - the mariners nicked it from the Garleans and they gave it to us.”

“_ Gave _?”

“Well. Sort of. Everyone is happy with the arrangement!”

"It’s not some of sort torture device is it?”

Suzune stared at him and pouted, her pale jade eyes going big. Her purple hair hung wildly around her face; the effect of innocence was slightly ruined.

Ardbert patted her head. “It was a jest.”

“Anyway, we modified it to use aether - so it’s like casting a spell - you just channel the aether to spark the … gem thing and the light captures an image on the… the thing.”

“Suzie. Who did you … borrow this from?”

“My brother!”

That could mean literally anyone who lived in her village, was in her clan or any random villager she was particularly close to but he did recognize this work and he would be pleased that Suzune was testing it out anyway.

“And… we’re using it to capture images of your failed attempts at arcanima?”

When they were five, speaking in such a manner would have required him to watch his footsteps for days and evade pranks but now that they were nearing adulthood she took it as the teasing it was. “This is my second attempt but I wanted you to see the actual carbuncle summoning!”

He blinked at her. “O-oh.”

“What?”

“Nothing. So, um... I guess this location is important?”

This location being a little inland by a grotto, a stream playing over the rocks, and a cave covered by palm fronds in the nearby distance.

“Yup! I’ve combined Eorzean gem summoning with Doman onmyodo and I don’t want a bunch of aether clogging it up! But yours is steady - like a lighthouse.”

Ardbert pretended to examine the camera obscura to hide the heat he felt in his cheeks. “Did those arrays help?”

“Barely.” she scoffed.

Suzune was at war with an arcanist who had taken up shop in a local village and while by some miracle the man was still walking around unharassed, Ardbert had a running bet with the townsfolk about his imminent humiliation and what from it would take because she was not the only local who he had offended.

“Does your array include math per-chance?“

Suzune sniffed, peering amongst her scrolls. "Arcanima comes in many forms - from the Eorzean magikometry - ”

“They’ve been calling it ‘arcane geometry’ for years, it’s - ”

“ - to Doman funjutsu and feng shui and just because Doman onmyjutsu doesn’t use all those damn numbers does not mean it is any less viable for the summoning of Eorzean aetherial constructs. In the East, we call upon minor kami - ”

“… Uh… aren’t those gods?”

“They’re spirits.”

“But you also said they were gods.”

“It depends on the kami! That’s why I use the word 'kami’ because it gets lost in translation - I”

"You’ve said. Many, many times. You know, this isn’t the schoolhouse, you don’t have to lecture at me - “

“Anyroad! If every arcanist does things differently,” she carried on over him as if she were at the schoolhouse talking to their teacher. “then’s no reason why I can’t smush magikometry and onmyojutsu together and many something no one can predict!”

“Of course.”

“You are ready, right?”

“This thing looks simple enough.” he said, taking an experimental shot.

“Okay! Oh my mark.”

Despite himself Ardbert huffed and got ready; no matter how much he outwardly complained he did find her endearing when she wasn’t being a gremlin. Or even if she was

Suzune let a drop of her blood fall on the ground - 

“Do you have to use blood every time?”

“Nope! … I hope. I’ll work on it. It should be just the once - oh!”

The array had blossomed to life, the gem at its center humming. A form began to rise as if someone was drawing something to life. Ardbert snapped a photo of that and then finally - the aetheric light faded revealing a shimmering blue carbuncle… the size of a large dog. And vaguely aquatic from the shape of her ears and tail - they weren’t quite fins though.

“Uh… I think it's too big.” Ardbert said, taking another photo. “… And the wrong color.”

“She’s perfect!”

The carbuncle warbled, hoping forward - and fell forward on her face. Both arcanist and carbuncle whined.

A flash.

“DID YOU TAKE ANOTHER?!”

She must be embarrassed. “It’s adorable.” he said, grin hidden under the cloth. “You’ll thank me later.”

“Come on, you can do it! … Maybe you are too big.”

The - blueish-white rainbow-esque, perhaps - carbuncle - chirped defiantly and wobbled to her feet again. She looked like she had fins on her ears and her paws looked webbed.

Ardbert lifted his head free of the cloth, squinting in the sunlight of the clearing. “Suzie - ”

“Don’t doubt me, I am perfectly capable of seeing what I need to change! But she and I have to agree.”

The carbuncle gingerly took a few more steps forward, wobbled dangerously and leapt towards Suzune - a mistake considering how large she had turned out.

“Aughgh!" 

Ardbert calmly took another picture despite the loud pop while the carbuncle paused and whuffed at Suzune, crumpled on the ground under the carbuncle sniffing - trying out her nose probably. 

"Augghgh. Please, get off - you’re heavy! you need to be smaller, I think…”

The carbuncle considered this and whuffed in agreement, patting her summoner’s face, before rolling off.

Suzune sat up, wobbly and patted her head. “I think we need to scale you down a bit - but having an adjustable size would be good…”

“Isn’t she a water carbuncle? Maybe it’s because she’s by the ocean.” Ardbert jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

“Oh duh! Come on, Carby we’re gonna go test it!”

'Carby’ chimed excitedly and she and Suzune set off a barrel run - or would have if the carbuncle hadn’t tripped over her paws and tails and careen over onto her side again. 

A sad warble of despair followed.

“I think you need to fix her paws.”

“That would be best. No, stop that!”

Ardbert doubled over laughing as the carbuncle scrambled to her paws again and Suzune tried - unsuccessfully - to weigh her down but the new carbuncle seemed determined to use her new paws as is.

“Pleassssse, I’m new at this, lemme make some adjustments!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently Nasreen leaping at people is going to be a reoccurring theme. Suzune started arcanima before the guild began to codify an actual method; before that arcanists just did whatever so Suzune naturally took both Eorzean arcanima and Doman onmyoji from her family and mushed them together. So, Nasreen came with a personality, I suppose, due to her methods. Maybe I’ll go into it more. I did zero research about old cameras, but in my mind, yes Eorzea does have those (purely because of all the screenshots we take)


	8. Prompt 07 (Forgive) - Burdens Shared (ShB)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 7 / Entry 7 - Forgive - to stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake
> 
> Cast: NPC Ardbert, OC Suzune, mentions of others
> 
> In a previous fic, (the Here and Now) which takes place after this I wrote: “We do not take from others because we have lost.” But Ardbert almost did exactly that. 
> 
> SPOILERS AHEAD FOR SHADOWBRINGERS Last Role Quest and the Final Zone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tags: Not pro-Emet-selch, experimental writing, Ardbert
> 
> Breaking from my Tessellation AU to do Shadowbringers Fic . This actually hearkens back to a previous ShB fic of mine ('The Here and Now) - I wrote a line that bothered me in hindsight and I wanted to address it. Some sentences have been added that were not in the original and the mentioned character Adelgrim is named 'Grimundr' now.

‘Not even alive’. Ardbert was a silent, ghostly-witness to Emet-selch’s intrusion of the Ocular - remembering his own old rage, feeling Suzune’s cold contempt.

“Well then.” Suzune’s voice is quiet, later. “When someone tells me my people are barely alive, I take exception.”

It was easier to harden their resolve after that - to endure.

They talked often, Suzune and Ardbert, despite Ardbert’s misgivings. She should bond with the living not with the dead. But he craved company and he could ask for no better.

But sometimes… he looked upon her, undoing his mistakes and regretted. And slowly - as they journeyed, the story was laid bare - of his comrades, of their sacrifice, of the betrayer.

“He’s omnicidal. He wants to destroy seven more worlds because he can’t move on or get grief counselling. Ruining the future for the sake of a bygone past.”

Ardbert shrugged, uncomfortable. “He and I aren’t so different…”

“At least your world was - is - still alive to save. Ardbert.”

“Would you do it? Would - would you ruin another world to save yours?”

Suzune tilted her head back and asked a question of her own. “Did you know Cylva was like me? From beyond your star? Ever?”

He twitched almost violently, remembering that encounter. “No. Never. Never… in life, anyway.”

“I met another like her - Unakalhai. But not once did he turn against us. See, the problem is that there’s so many of us, we who are blessed by the Mothercrystal - and we don’t reach out. I grew up with people I can read as well as myself - it’s startling to go out into the world and realizing people keep themselves aloof - they have to do things by themselves.

I had to practically bash my brothers and sisters - you know, the other Luminaries - over the head to get them to accept I was going to help them; that a burden shared is a burden divided, a battle won. But then people also think there’s something wrong with me when I don’t feel as much guilt or regret as they think I should.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I couldn’t tell you,” a grin wrinkled her familiar blue eye tattoos. “I broke his nose and possibly his jaw before he could articulate his problem. It’s rude, projecting yourself onto others.”

But finally she considered his question, eyes closed. “I wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t what?’

“If my world perished and I lived, I would fight on - I would save another world from the same fate.” She sounded so assured of her own actions in some hypothetical world - he envied her that.

“But if it is merely at the cusp,” he protested, “You - “ She had given him the answer already. “You would ask another of us to…” he huffed a bitter laugh. “You are the best of us. Seven worlds lost… Why … How?”

“I’ll tell you my secret.” she said, turning to him.

“Pragmatism?” he quipped.

“Self forgiveness.”

And when all of Norvrandt marched on Kholusia - their hopes and dreams imbued within the arms and heart of the largest Talos the world had ever seen - if he had a heart, a working heart it would have burst. 

“We don’t reach out.” 

She must’ve meant Warriors of Light in general - besides herself. “Heroes - we take all the burden on ourselves.”

What’s done is done - is resolved.

The people of Norvrandt defied death - together - and he could finally feel proud of the part he played in helping his word survive.

“They merely think they win. And it’s such a pleasure when I come back round and break their entire face!”

She may have been brimming over with light - but like every other time, she wouldn’t be beaten until she had spent her last breath, her last drop of blood.

_ We can stop them here. And save that which remains. Deal? _

_ Deal. _


	9. Prompt 07 Inspo - The Here and Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tags: Shadowbringers Spoilers, not pro-Emet Selch, mildly canon divergent
> 
> Ardbert and Suzune reflect on the world they love now and the world they maybe loved hundreds of lifetimes ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was posted on my tumblr on August 1st - well before September's FFXIVWrite2019 but I wanted to include it here because Prompt 07 came about due to me wanting to address Ardbert's line: “We do not take from others because we have lost.” (He's learned the lesson now)
> 
> Tags: Experimental Writing, Shb Spoilers

# The Here and Now

When they see Amarout, two souls - two matching souls echo with the lost memory but flinches away - away from the … Place with gray cloaks and sleek sharp lines.

Away from the Scions, they walk - staring up at grey, cold buildings and the light trapped within them.

We lived here? Ardbert murmurs, frowning. His soul curls away from the idea. Her’s is sharp, prickly, against the cold, draws closer to his.

A long time ago, she says back. Maybe.

Needs a warm hearth. Ale… He muses on homey things and she laughs.

The city is cold. Grey. She remembers the sun reflecting off the coves of the Cieldalaes, the wind blowing through Limsa Lominsa, the sun over Ala Mhigo, the mists shrouding the Dairyu Moongates, the eclectic crystal, brick, metal, limestone of the Crystarium.

He remembers Nabaat Areng, Voeburt and Eulmore in their glory days, of the plays in Nabaat, of marching Talos, bowls of lamb stew in Voeburt.

She sees the uniformity of Amarout's shades and remembers the Crystarium's bridge and gate to Lakeland - Tessellation.The unity found in difference, different shapes finding interlocking pieces that bind all together.

Maybe she loved the ancient world; people love their homes. But she loves Eorzea, Norvrandt.

Do you think he knew us? He says. Must be lonely… All that time. I’d go mad. Almost did.

What does it matter? If anyone does not take us as we are they do not deserve us as we were. We’re saving Raha and we are going home. That’s that.

There’s an echo of a laugh, a comforting pressure of a hand on her shoulder.

His heart remembers the pain. So does she.

We’ll save the world too. he says. And you.

She stops, looks at him. “Such confidence, Ard.” How far he’s come from that broken man.

“Yeah well, yours rubs off on me. You never lose, remember. Grimundr still needs to scold you.”

“I pray you two never meet.”

They walk through a lost city, a reflection of what once was.

Emet-selch knew us - we knew him?

I don’t care. How dare he - People change. And we are not friends.

If they cannot take you are your worst, they don’t deserve you at your best. 

Fair-weather, casual friends have their place. I trust them to have fun with not with my life. Not with all my secrets. Not with_ our worlds. _Especially when he is an enemy of all else.

Her soul churns with primordial rage - his light as a beacon, a pharos above the waves - steady, lest her rage turns on them.

They remember Ronka and Allag, Amdapor and Skalla, they remember Mhach and Nym and more - all great, so much potential - ruined because someone could never move on.

After all if he is still like this and we are not, we must have disagreed long ago - and he is blind. This our world now.

Our world. Our story.

“He needs grief counseling.“

“He doesn’t want to be saved.”

"Good. ‘Cause Raha’s the one I’m saving today.” An affirmation.

“And you.” A reminder.

“That was obvious.” An assurance.

I <strike>we</strike> have lost.

We do not take from others because we have lost.

_"Not even I could bring her across the rift in possession of her mortal flesh!”_

The Echo had followed them out of the Umbilicus- a little chat between Emet-Selch and Raha, in his guise as Exarch.

The Ironworks… They’d…

Our people have undone time and history in ways these Ancients could not.

The largest Talos in history, rising to grip a mountain. The many souls who gathered, who built it - their hearts a flickering flame. That construct - an embodiment of unity, determination, ingenuity - defiance of death.

They - she, he - look at the city they once walked. 

Do you remember who walked this road with us? Old shadows, old friends.

We gave all for a new world. New worlds.

And we will suffer none to end it. 

We will love all while we are here, while what we love is here and we will learn to love the world again, when we are reborn.

And they fight through the flames of a forgotten apocalypse - the fall of what could be consider their world's progenitors - their gods

.

Could you do it? Could you save both our worlds?

She laughs, pushes her hands underneath her, lifts herself to her knees. What, by myself?

Take it. The axe - he holds it out to her, heavy and hard. We fight as one.

A laugh. I can’t swing that! She wants to say it, she wants him to stay - but its his choice

He hesitates. Considers. Rests his axe on one shoulder and holds out his hand. She takes it. His grip is firm.

We fight together.


End file.
